5.  The applicants are:
6.  The first applicant is the mother of Mr Vakhit Avkhadov, born in 1979. The second to fifth applicants are Vakhit Avkhadov’s sisters. The applicants reside in the town of Urus-Martan, the Chechen Republic.
7.  The account of the events below is based on the information contained in the application form; the first applicant’s written statement made on 4 June 2007; a written statement of 5 June 2005 by R.A., the first applicant’s daughter, who is not an applicant in the present case; a written statement by the applicants’ neighbour, S.M., made on 8 June 2007; and a written statement by M.A., a resident of Urus-Martan, made on 4 December 2009.
8.  On 24 April 2001 the first applicant, Vakhit Avkhadov and R.A. were at home, at 104 (subsequently re-numbered as 112) Sovetskaya Street in Urus-Martan.
9.  At about 6 a.m. on 24 April 2001 the first applicant was woken up by a noise coming from outside. Through a window she saw several armed men climb over the fence and into the courtyard. She ran to the room where Vakhit Avkhadov was sleeping and alerted him about the intrusion. She then rushed downstairs to the front door, through which several armed men were already entering the house. Two of them guarded the front door while two others immediately started searching the house. All of the intruders were wearing new camouflage uniforms and were armed with submachine guns. While the first applicant was by the front door, she noticed behind the fence two armoured personnel carriers (hereinafter also “APC”) surrounded by numerous armed men wearing green camouflage uniforms. Unlike the uniforms of the men who had burst into the house, the uniforms of those beside the APCs were very dirty.
10.  The armed intruders neither identified themselves nor explained the reasons for their intrusion. One of them asked the first applicant who was at home. She tried to ask him who they were looking for but by that time two intruders had already spotted Vakhit Avkhadov. One of them, a tall man, pointed his gun at Vakhit Avkhadov and ordered him in Russian to put his arms behind his neck and get out of his room. Vakhit Avkhadov was taken to the hallway and ordered to kneel. When the tall intruder raised his leg to kick Vakhit Avkhadov, the first applicant shouted at him, asking him why he was doing that to her son, but was ordered to be silent. At the same moment R.A. ran from her room and tried to approach Vakhit Avkhadov, but one of the men threatened her with his gun and made her return to her room.
11.  The intruders then took Vakhit Avkhadov into the courtyard and placed him face-down on the ground. He was wearing only his underwear so the first applicant brought some of his clothes outside, in particular, a red T-shirt, a warm sports jacket with a white stripe on a sleeve and a black raincoat. She asked the intruders to allow her son to get dressed. One of them agreed, urging Vakhit Avkhadov to do so quickly, and even passed him a pair of shoes which had been by the front door.
12.  Shortly thereafter the armed men who were searching the house went outside and asked the first applicant for Vakhit Avkhadov’s identity papers. She started crying and begged them not to take him away. She asked them at least to explain why they were arresting him. Vakhit Avkhadov asked her to calm down and to comply with the order. He explained to her where he kept his temporary identity card and she brought it outside and handed it over to one of the armed men.
13.  The intruders then covered Vakhit Avkhadov’s head with his raincoat and led him outside the courtyard. The first applicant and R.A. followed them outside, where they saw three APCs and two UAZ all-terrain vehicles, and numerous armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks. All of the vehicles’ registration plates had been obscured with mud. The intruders put Vakhit Avkhadov in an APC and then the convoy of two APCs, two UAZ vehicles and a third APC drove off towards the centre of Urus-Martan.
14.  According to M.A., at about 5.30 a.m. on 24 April 2001 a group of armed servicemen driving an APC broke the gate to the courtyard of her family house with their APC. Immediately after that the servicemen burst into her house, handcuffed her son L.-A.A., seized his identity papers and placed him in one of their two APCs, both parked at the house. The convoy of APCs then took Bolnichnaya street and turned into Sovetskaya street, where the applicants resided.
15.  The Government submitted that the domestic investigation had obtained no evidence that Vakhit Avkhadov had been abducted by State agents.
16.  On 24 April 2001, immediately after the departure of the armed men with Vakhit Avkhadov, the first applicant’s neighbours came to her house. The first applicant and one of her neighbours rushed to the centre of Urus‑Martan. On the way, the women allegedly met Mrs K., who told them that her son had also been abducted by Russian servicemen in several APCs and that her husband, Mr K., would wait for her in the town centre in order to search for their abducted son. The first applicant decided to follow Mrs K. to the centre.
17.  When the women reached the centre of Urus-Martan, Mr K. was already waiting for them. They set off in his minibus, following the mud tracks left on the road by the APCs. The tracks led in the direction of the village of Tangi-Chu. Furthermore, residents of Urus-Martan whom the first applicant and her fellow travellers met on the way indicated to them the direction taken by the APCs. In that manner the first applicant and Mr and Mrs K. reached the grounds of the Western Zone Alignment of the armed forces (группировка «Запад»), who were stationed at the material time to the south-west of Urus-Martan. The first applicant and her fellow travellers did not catch up with the APCs but clearly saw fresh tracks made by them at the entrance to the military grounds. They then attempted to question the servicemen present about those APCs but did not succeed in getting any information. At the same time local residents allegedly told the first applicant that the APCs had been “working hard” on the two previous nights, bringing to the military grounds young men of Chechen ethnic origin. It appears that the first applicant then returned home.
18.  According to the first applicant, several young men had been apprehended in Urus-Martan on 24 April 2001, including Mr L.‑A.A., the son of M.A. and the then head of the Urus-Martan town administration, and also Mr G., a son of the person who subsequently held that post.
19.  On the same date, the first applicant contacted, both orally and in writing, the local Department of the Interior, the prosecutor’s office, the office of the military commander and the local administration, complaining about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov.
20.  According to the first applicant, on 26 April 2001 an elderly man who had identified himself as “Ali” had come to her house. Ali allegedly told her that on 24 April 2001 he had been apprehended by Russian servicemen together with Vakhit Avkhadov and several other men from Urus‑Martan. They had all been taken to the grounds of the Western Zone Alignment of the armed forces and placed in pits. Two to three hours later the servicemen had taken Vakhit Avkhadov and L.-A.A. out of the pit and led them away, following which Ali had heard the sound of a helicopter. On the same day Ali, Mr G. and the son of Mr and Mrs K. had been released.
21.  On the following days the first applicant visited Mr and Mrs K. and asked them to testify about the events of 24 April 2001. However, they refused to do so because they feared for their lives. They told the first applicant that they had sent their son outside the Chechen Republic, also fearing for his life.
22.  On an unspecified date the first applicant met with members of the A. family, whose son had also been apprehended on 24 April 2001, and they agreed to join together in their search efforts.
23.  On an unspecified date in June 2001 the first applicant and the A. family allegedly managed to talk to a serviceman from the Western Zone Alignment. He allegedly confirmed that Vakhit Avkhadov and L.-A.A. had been brought to the grounds of the Western Zone Alignment and placed in pits. He did not know their names but described their appearance. In particular, he said that L.-A.A had had grey hair and had been wearing a red T‑shirt, which details were confirmed by the A. family. The serviceman also stated that at 9 a.m. on 24 April 2001 two persons, one of them tall and the other short and stout, had been taken away in a helicopter. According to the first applicant, the description of the second person corresponded to that of her son because he was 165 cm tall and corpulent. Moreover, the description of the “tall man” corresponded to L.-A.A. Lastly, the serviceman allegedly also described the appearance of those who had been released on 24 April 2001 (Ali, Mr G. and the son of Mr and Mrs K). In the submission of M.A., on 24 April 2001 and on several following days when she and her husband had applied to the Urus-Martan military commander’s office, the Western Zone Alignment and the local administration, the serviceman had confirmed that her son L.-A.A. had been arrested and had even told her that they had given him clothing because he had been arrested in a T-shirt and jeans and without shoes.
24.  According to the first applicant, despite her immediate complaints to various authorities about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov, investigators did not call at her home until two months after the events of 24 April 2001 (see below). The investigators questioned the first applicant, inspected her house and left.
25.  The applicants have had no news of Vakhit Avkhadov since his apprehension on 24 April 2001.
(b)  Investigation into the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov
26.  On 7 May 2001 the first applicant submitted a further complaint about her son’s abduction. On that occasion she lodged the complaint with the Urus-Martanovskiy District Court. In her complaint she submitted that she had previously applied to various authorities concerning her son’s disappearance but had received no responses. There is no indication that her complaint was ever answered.
27.  On 28 July 2001 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic (hereinafter also “the republican prosecutor’s office”) forwarded a complaint lodged by the first applicant (the date of the complaint was not indicated) about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov to the prosecutors’ office of the Urus-Martanovskiy District (“the district prosecutor’s office”). The latter forwarded the complaint to the Urus-Martanovskiy Temporary Department of the Interior (hereinafter also “the VOVD”), instructing it to verify the first applicant’s submissions and, should they be confirmed, to open a criminal investigation, take the basic investigative measures and return the case to the district prosecutor’s office.
28.  On 19 February 2002 the district prosecutor’s office notified the first applicant that on 16 August 2001 it had opened a criminal investigation into the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov under Article 126 § 2 of the Criminal Code (aggravated abduction). The case file had been assigned the number 25350. The investigation appears to have been suspended between 16 August 2001 and 19 February 2002 as the letter also stated that the investigation had been resumed, but did not specify the relevant date.
29.  On 20 May 2002 the first applicant complained to the military commander of the Urus-Martanovskiy District that at 5.45 a.m. on 24 October 2001 about 20 servicemen in masks and camouflage uniforms had come to her house in two APCs the number plates of which had been obscured with mud, had burst into the house and taken away Vakhit Avkhadov. She further submitted that she had followed the intruders to the village of Tangi-Chu, where the servicemen had been holding her son and from where he had been taken in a helicopter to Khankala. The first applicant submitted that she had not seen her son since, and requested assistance in establishing his whereabouts. On 29 and 31 May 2001 the first applicant addressed letters along the same lines to the head of the VOVD and the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic, Mr A. Kadyrov.
30.  On 16 July 2002 the South Federal Circuit Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office forwarded a further complaint lodged by the first applicant about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov to the republican prosecutor’s office for examination.
31.  On 23 July 2002 the office of the head of the administration of the Chechen Republic replied to the first applicant that they were supervising the search for Vakhit Avkhadov and had forwarded her complaint to the law-enforcement officials in charge of it.
32.  On 24 July 2002 the republican prosecutor’s office forwarded the first applicant’s complaint about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov to the district prosecutor’s office and instructed the latter to verify the submissions contained therein and to append the complaint to the case file.
33.  On 13 August 2002 the first applicant wrote to the district prosecutor’s office, asking to be granted victim status in connection with the proceedings in case no. 25350. She does not appear to have received a reply to her request.
34.  On 16 August 2002 the Chief Military Prosecutor’s office transferred a further complaint lodged by the first applicant about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov to the military prosecutor of the North Caucasus Military Circuit for examination. The latter forwarded the complaint to the republican prosecutor’s office, which, in its turn, transferred it to the district prosecutor’s office.
35.  On 6 September 2002 the Chief Military Prosecutor’s office forwarded yet another complaint lodged by the first applicant about the abduction of her son to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 for examination.
36.  On 17 October 2002 the military commander’s office of the Chechen Republic replied to the first applicant that they had no information on the apprehension or whereabouts of Vakhit Avkhadov.
37.  On 26 December 2002 the Commission on Human Rights with the President of the Russian Federation transferred a complaint lodged by the first applicant about the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov to the South Federal Circuit Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The latter notified the first applicant by a letter of 10 January 2003 that it had forwarded the complaint to the republican prosecutor’s office for examination.
38.  On 16 May 2003 the Chief Military Prosecutor’s office forwarded complaints lodged by the first applicant on 8 and 12 April 2003 to the military prosecutor of the United Group Alignment (“the UGA”) for examination.
39.  On 9 June 2003 the republican prosecutor’s office transferred the first applicant’s complaint about the abduction of her son to the district prosecutor’s office. The latter authority was instructed to verify the circumstances of Vakhit Avkhadov’s disappearance and, in the event that servicemen of the federal armed forces were implicated in the abduction, to refer the case to a military prosecutor’s office for investigation. The district prosecutor’s office was also requested to provide the republican prosecutor’s office with detailed information on the investigation results and, if the investigation had been suspended, to report on the justification for any such decision. Lastly, the district prosecutor’s office was instructed to apprise the first applicant of the results of the investigation and the measures taken to establish the whereabouts of Vakhit Avkhadov and to identify those responsible. A copy of the letter was forwarded to the first applicant.
40.  On 17 June 2003 the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102 replied to the first applicant that her complaint had contained no information on the possible involvement of servicemen of the federal forces in the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov.
41.  In a letter dated 15 August 2003 the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102 notified the first applicant, in reply to her complaint, that they had made enquiries with the “security forces” (силовые структуры) of the Urus-Martanovskiy District about special operations carried out on 24 April 2001. According to the replies received and the reports on the special operations compiled by representatives of the federal forces and the head of the local administration, Vakhit Avkhadov had not been arrested in the course of those special operations. Having found no evidence of the implication of servicemen of the federal forces in the abduction of the first applicant’s son, the military prosecutor’s office forwarded the first applicant’s complaint to the district prosecutor’s office for examination.
42.  Subsequently, the applicants systematically contacted the district prosecutor’s office. Its officials allegedly asked them not to apply to them in writing, since compiling formal replies to their queries would take time that could be used for the investigation of the case. The applicants followed their instruction.
43.  On 13 June 2006 the first applicant complained to the district prosecutor’s office about the procrastination in the investigation into the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov, the lack of any information on its progress and the absence of any tangible results. She asked to be granted victim status in connection with the proceedings in case no. 25350 and also sought access to the case file and the resumption of the investigation in the event that it had been suspended.
44.  In reply, on 15 June 2006 the district prosecutor’s office notified the first applicant that on an unspecified date the investigation had been resumed and that operational and search measures aimed at establishing the whereabouts of Vakhit Avkhadov and identifying those responsible were under way. The first applicant was summoned to the district prosecutor’s office on 19 June 2006.
45.  On 19 June 2006 the first applicant was granted victim status in connection with the proceedings in case no. 25350. She was notified of the decision on the same day.
46.  On 8 June 2007 the first applicant applied to the district prosecutor’s office, seeking access to case file no. 25350. There is no indication that she received a reply to her request.
47.  Despite specific requests by the Court, the Government refused to disclose most of the contents of criminal case no. 25350, referring to Article 161 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure. They only provided copies of: several decisions to open, suspend and resume the investigation; records of several witness interviews; requests for information addressed to various State authorities and some of the replies to them. Some of the documents submitted by the Government were illegible and others were only partially legible. In so far as the documents submitted by the Government were legible, the information they contained may be summarised as follows.
(a)  Opening of the investigation and transfer of the case file between various authorities
48.  On 25 May 2001 the first applicant complained to the Chechen ombudsman about the abduction of her son.
49.  On 1 August 2001 the acting prosecutor of the Urus-Martanovskiy District forwarded the first applicant’s complaint about her son’s abduction to the Urus-Martanovskiy VOVD and instructed the latter authority to immediately open a criminal investigation, take the basic investigative steps and return the opened case file to the district prosecutor’s office, should the first applicant’s submissions be confirmed. It follows from the stamp on the document that it was received by the VOVD on 5 August 2001. It is unclear from the document of 1 August 2001 which of the applicant’s complaints was forwarded to the VOVD, to which authority it was addressed and how it was dated.
50.  On 16 August 2001 the Urus-Martanovskiy VOVD instituted criminal proceedings concerning Vakhit Avkhadov’s abduction. The decision stated that at about 5 a.m. on 24 April 2001 he had been taken away from his home at 112 Sovetskaya street in Urus-Martan by unidentified persons in camouflage uniforms and that his whereabouts remained unknown.
51.  By a decision of 11 September 2001 the VOVD transferred criminal case no. 25350 to the district prosecutor’s office for further investigation.
(b)  Interviewing of witnesses
52.  On 5 August (or September) 2001 (the date is partly illegible) a police officer of the Urus-Martanovskiy Department of the Interior took a written statement from the first applicant (объяснение). According to the statement, at about 6 a.m. on 24 April 2001 a group of armed camouflaged men had burst into her house and taken away her son, Vakhit Avkhadov, holding the first applicant and her daughters at gunpoint. The first applicant had followed the abductors’ APC in the direction of Tangi-Chu.
53.  According to statements by Z.B. and Sh.S., given on 6 and 8 August 2001, they had learnt from Vakhit Avkhadov’s relatives that the latter had been abducted from his house by men in camouflage uniforms. From the relevant documents it does not appear that either Z.B. or Sh.S. resided in the same street as the applicants.
54.  By a decision of 16 August 2001 the first applicant was granted victim status in the proceedings concerning her son’s abduction. The text of the decision did not mention whether she had been notified of that and if so, when, and did not contain her signature to that effect.
55.  According to the record of an interview of the first applicant of 16 August 2001, at about 5 a.m. on 24 April 2001 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks had broken into the courtyard of her house by climbing over the fence. Five armed men had entered the house and taken away her son, who had been wearing a red T-shirt and a sports jacket with a white stripe on a sleeve. The intruders had spoken Russian and when they had taken her son outside they had put a raincoat over his head. The first applicant had noticed two APCs with number plates obscured with mud, and several more servicemen outside the courtyard. The two APCs went off in the direction of the village of Tangi-Chu. After the abduction the first applicant had immediately gone to the military commander’s office and had also contacted the prosecutor’s office. However, she had had no news of her son.
56.  According to the Government, Mr N.S., interviewed as a witness on 17 August 2001, had stated that Vakhit Avkhadov had been his friend and that he had learnt about his abduction on 24 April 2001 from his mother. On that day six men had been abducted from Urus-Maran. Four had returned home, but Vakhit Avkhadov and L.-A.A. had not. A copy of the relevant interview record was not submitted by the Government.
57.  T.Yu., interviewed as a witness on 18 August 2001, stated that the first applicant was his sister and that on 26 April 2001 she had visited him in Grozny and told him about the abduction of her son on 24 April 2001 by armed camouflaged men in two APCs. T.Yu. had subsequently assisted her in the search for Vakhit Avkhadov, during which they had learnt that on 24 April 2001 six men had been abducted from Urus-Martan, including Vakhit Avkhadov and L.-A.A. Four of them had subsequently been released.
58.  According to the interview records of N.S. and A.B., both residents of Urus-Martan, dated 18 August 2001, they had learnt about Vakhit Avkhadov’s abduction from his relatives. From the relevant interview records it transpires that neither N.S. nor A.B. resided in the same street as the applicants.
59.  According to the Government, on 19 June 2006 the first applicant was again granted victim status (повторно признана потерпевшей). The record of her interview of the same date shows that she confirmed her earlier submissions to the investigation concerning the circumstances of her son’s abduction: at about 6 a.m. on 24 April 2001 he had been taken away by armed camouflaged men in two APCs, which had left in the direction of Tangi‑Chu. Another resident of Urus-Martan, L.-A.A., had been abducted on the same day.
(c)  Further investigative steps
60.  On 19 August 2001 the VOVD requested the Urus-Martan military commander’s office and the Chernokozovo remand prison to inform it whether Vakhit Avkhadov had been arrested by, or detained on the premises of, those authorities.
61.  On an unspecified date in August 2001 the military commander’s office replied by letter to the VOVD that Vakhit Avkhadov had not been brought to that authority on 24 April 2001.
62.  In a letter dated 15 June 2006 the district prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that a criminal case into the abduction of her son had been opened; that operational and search measures aimed at identifying those responsible and establishing his whereabouts were under way; and that she had been summoned to the prosecutor’s office with a view to carrying out unspecified investigative measures.
63.  On 15 and 16 June 2006 the district prosecutor’s office asked various hospitals, law-enforcement authorities and detention facilities in the Chechen Republic and neighbouring regions, whether Vakhit Avkhadov had applied to them for medical assistance, had been arrested or held in detention by them, and whether they were in possession of compromising materials (компрометирующий материал) in connection with him. From the replies of various authorities enclosed by the Government, it appears that the addressees of those requests for information denied having arrested or detained the missing man, and claimed that he had not contacted them for medical assistance and that they had no compromising material in connection with him.
64.   In a report (рапорт) of 14 July 2006 the Department of the Interior of the Urus-Martanovskiy District (hereinafter also “the Urus-Martanovskiy ROVD” or “the ROVD”), informed the district prosecutor’s office that despite a door-to-door check (подворный обход) carried out in Urus‑Martan, it had proved impossible to identify witnesses to the abduction of Vakhit Avkhadov because he had been abducted early in the morning.
65.  On 11 July 2006 the district prosecutor’s office instructed the ROVD to verify whether Vakhit Avkhadov had been arrested by servicemen of the Urus-Martanovskiy District and held in the district’s detention facilities. On the same date the district prosecutor’s office sent out similar requests to departments of the interior of other districts in the Chechen Republic. Those requests do not appear to have resulted in any relevant information.
(d)  Information concerning the decisions to suspend and resume the investigation and the applicants’ access to the case file
66.  On 16 October 2001 the district prosecutor’s office decided to suspend the investigation in case no. 25350 and to send a copy of the decision to the prosecutor of the Urus-Martanovskiy District. However, the decision contained no reference as to whether the first applicant was to be notified and there is no indication that she was so informed.
67.  On 15 June 2006 the acting prosecutor of the Urus-Martanovskiy District overturned the decision of 16 October 2001 to suspend the investigation on the grounds that it was premature and unfounded, and ordered it to be resumed.
68.  On 13 July 2006 the district prosecutor’s office suspended the investigation of Vakhit Avkhadov’s abduction owing to the failure to identify those responsible.
69.  In a letter of 16 June 2007 the deputy prosecutor of the Urus‑Martanovskiy District replied to a request for information about the investigation from the first applicant, saying that on 15 June 2006 the investigation in case no. 25350 had been resumed and that on 19 June 2006 she had been granted victim status in those proceedings.
70.  On 8 June 2007 the first applicant had asked the district prosecutor’s office to grant her access to the case file concerning her son’s abduction and permission to make copies from it. She had submitted that she had had no information about the investigative steps taken and had received no reply to her previous request of 13 June 2006 for access to the case file. There is no indication that that request was ever replied to.
71.  According to the Government, the investigation into the abduction of the applicants’ relative is pending.